Final Fantasy XIV has moved from a poor release for Square Enix over a decade ago to one of the major titles keeping the entire publisher afloat. The company released its financial earnings report for the three-month period ending on June 30, 2022. Net sales were down 15.5% from the same period last year, dropping from ¥88.6 billion ($656 million USD), down to ¥74.8 billion ($554.6 million). Income was actually up 48.7%, landing at ¥26.2 billion ($194.5 million), but Square Enix notes that the decline is partially due to foreign exchange rates and the weakness of the Japanese yen. (Most of the company’s sales come from North America and Europe.)
The publisher mentioned the lack of new titles during the period leading to the decline in sales, but pointed to FFXIV as a key driver of revenue. “In the MMO Game sub-segment, net sales rose versus the same period of the previous fiscal year due to growth in the number of monthly paying subscribers for Final Fantasy XIV,” said the publisher in its consolidated financial report.
In a set of slides that accompanied the earnings release, Square Enix highlighted a sharp decline in sales for its Digital Entertainment segment, where more of its game sales are accounted for. “HD Games,” which includes most of the company’s AAA releases, was down to ¥12 billion ($88.9 million) for the quarter, versus ¥25.1 billion ($186 million) the previous year. Even mobile games saw a small decline. In contrast, the MMO segment was up to ¥14.1 billion ($104.4 million) year-over-year.
The slides note that there’s no expansion pack planned for this year, but that’s not a surprise to anyone that’s been following FFXIV for any length of time. The release of Endwalker came in December of last year and the game follows a pretty consistent two-year release cadence. FFXIV tends to pass off the baton with World of Warcraft; Blizzard’s MMO is getting its new expansion Dragonflight this year, while whatever’s next for FFXIV will presumably come in 2023.
Instead, the FFXIV team is focused on keeping the current player happy with new patch releases. The upcoming Patch 6.2 is adding a host of new features to the game, including the long-awaited Island Sanctuary, expanded Trusts, new Tribal quests, and Criterion and Variant dungeons. While you wait for the launch of that patch, you should probably try to pick up the PVP Archfiend Attire, which is going away with 6.2, and enjoy the 2022 Moonfire Faire event.
